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Police Lt. Michael Landers suspects that a suicide at a local flop house isn't what it appears to be. When he boss doesn't share his suspicions, Landers takes a leave of absence and travels to a desert spa town in order to investigate the death.

1.
Warner Bros.
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Entertainment Inc. – colloquially known as Warner Bros. or Warner Bros. It is one of the Big Six major American film studios, Warner Bros. is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America. The companys name originated from the four founding Warner brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam, Jack, the youngest, was born in London, Ontario. The three elder brothers began in the theater business, having acquired a movie projector with which they showed films in the mining towns of Pennsylvania. In the beginning, Sam and Albert Warner invested $150 to present Life of an American Fireman and they opened their first theater, the Cascade, in New Castle, Pennsylvania, in 1903. When the original building was in danger of being demolished, the modern Warner Bros. called the current building owners, the owners noted people across the country had asked them to protect it for its historical significance. In 1904, the Warners founded the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company, in 1912, Harry Warner hired an auditor named Paul Ashley Chase. By the time of World War I they had begun producing films, in 1918 they opened the first Warner Bros. studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Sam and Jack produced the pictures, while Harry and Albert, along with their auditor and now controller Chase, handled finance and distribution in New York City. During World War I their first nationally syndicated film, My Four Years in Germany, on April 4,1923, with help from money loaned to Harry by his banker Motley Flint, they formally incorporated as Warner Brothers Pictures, Incorporated. The first important deal was the acquisition of the rights to Avery Hopwoods 1919 Broadway play, The Gold Diggers, however, Rin Tin Tin, a dog brought from France after World War I by an American soldier, established their reputation. Rin Tin Tin debuted in the feature Where the North Begins, the movie was so successful that Jack signed the dog to star in more films for $1,000 per week. Rin Tin Tin became the top star. Jack nicknamed him The Mortgage Lifter and the success boosted Darryl F. Zanucks career, Zanuck eventually became a top producer and between 1928 and 1933 served as Jacks right-hand man and executive producer, with responsibilities including day-to-day film production. More success came after Ernst Lubitsch was hired as head director, lubitschs film The Marriage Circle was the studios most successful film of 1924, and was on The New York Times best list for that year. Despite the success of Rin Tin Tin and Lubitsch, Warners remained a lesser studio, Sam and Jack decided to offer Broadway actor John Barrymore the lead role in Beau Brummel. The film was so successful that Harry signed Barrymore to a contract, like The Marriage Circle. By the end of 1924, Warner Bros. was arguably Hollywoods most successful independent studio, as the studio prospered, it gained backing from Wall Street, and in 1924 Goldman Sachs arranged a major loan

2.
Monte Blue
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Monte Blue was a movie actor who began his career as a romantic leading man in the silent film era, and later progressed to character roles. Blue was born in Indianapolis, Indiana and his father was half French and half Cherokee or Osage Indian. When his father died, his mother could not rear five children alone, so Blue and he eventually worked his way through Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Blue grew to six feet, three inches tall and he played football and worked as a fireman, railroad worker, coal miner, cowpuncher, ranch hand, circus rider, lumberjack, and day laborer at the studios of D. W. Griffith. Blue had no theatrical experience when he came to the screen and his first movie was The Birth of a Nation, in which he was a stuntman and an extra. Next, he played another small part in Intolerance and he also was a stuntman or stand-in for Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree during the making of Macbeth. Gradually moving to supporting roles for both D. W. Griffith and Cecil B, deMille, Blue earned his breakthrough role as Danton in Orphans of the Storm, starring sisters Lillian and Dorothy Gish. Then, he rose to stardom as a romantic lead along with top leading actresses such as Clara Bow, Gloria Swanson. He was most often partnered with Marie Prevost, with whom he made films in the mid-1920s at Warner Bros. Blues finest silent-screen performance was as the doctor who finds paradise in MGMs White Shadows in the South Seas. Blue became one of the few silent stars to survive the talkie revolution, however, one of his more memorable roles was as the sheriff in Key Largo opposite Lionel Barrymore. For his contributions to the motion pictures industry, Monte Blue received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6290 Hollywood Boulevard on February 8,1960, Blue divorced his first wife in 1923 and married Tova Jansen in 1924. He had two children, Barbara Ann and Richard Monte and he is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California alongside his mother-in-law, actress, Bodil Rosing. Monte Blue at the Internet Movie Database Literature on Monte Blue

3.
Helen Westcott
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Helen Westcott was an American stage and screen actor and former child actor. She is best known for her work in The Gunfighter, born Myrthas Helen Hickman, she was the daughter of singer Hazel Beth McArthur and Warner Bros. studio actor Gordon Westcott who died when Helen was 7 years old, in 1935. She attended Los Angeles City College, when she was 2, Westcott appeared in vaudeville with her mother, and when she was 7 she began a nine-year run playing the daughter on stage in a production of The Drunkard in Los Angeles. When Westcott was 4 years old, she appeared in a series of short films, at 5, she appeared in the full-length Thunder Over Texas. She appeared opposite Gregory Peck in the western classic The Gunfighter released in 1950 and she was also known in part for her role in Charles Lamonts 1953 comedy horror film Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Westcott moved from the big screen to television roles in the late 1950s, in 1958 she appeared on Perry Mason as murderer Marcia Greeley in The Case of the Haunted Husband. She also made guest appearances on Bonanza, The Twilight Zone, Westcott also appeared on the stage later in her career, as well as in films including Anthony Manns Gods Little Acre in 1958. Westcott wed actor Don Gordon on February 18,1948, in 1950, they had a daughter, Jennifer. On March 17,1998, Westcott died of cancer in Edmonds, Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr

4.
Robert Alda
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Robert Alda was an American theatrical and film actor and father of actors Alan and Antony Alda. A talented singer and dancer, Alda was featured in a number of Broadway productions before moving to Italy during the early 1960s. He appeared in many European films over the two decades, occasionally returning to the U. S. for film appearances such as The Girl Who Knew Too Much. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York in 1930 and he began as a singer and dancer in vaudeville after winning a talent contest, and moved on to burlesque. Alda is known for portraying George Gershwin in the biopic Rhapsody in Blue as well as the talent agent in the Douglas Sirk classic Imitation of Life. He was very successful on Broadway, starring in Guys and Dolls, for which he won a Tony Award and he was also the host of the short-lived DuMont TV version of the game show Whats Your Bid. Aldas first wife, and mother of actor Alan Alda, Joan Browne, was a homemaker and former beauty pageant winner, Alda was married to his second wife, Flora Marino, an Italian actress whom he met in Rome, until his death. Alda made two guest appearances with his son Alan on M*A*S*H, in the episodes The Consultant and Lend a Hand, the latter episode also featured Antony Alda, his younger son by his second wife. Alda appeared in an episode of The Feather and Father Gang in 1977, Alda died on May 3,1986, aged 72, after a long illness following a stroke. The Front Page My Daughter, Your Son What Makes Sammy Run

5.
Robert Douglas (actor)
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Robert Douglas was born as Robert Douglas Finlayson in Fenny Stratford, Buckinghamshire. He was a stage and film actor, a television director. He studied at RADA and made his debut at the Theatre Royal. A year later he made his first London appearance in Many Waters at the Ambassadors Theatre and he was gentle-mannered with a well modulated speaking voice, and delivered his lines in a clipped fashion. He could portray the sinister, conniving rogue as easily as the military officer. He was married twice, to actresses Dorothy Hyson and Suzanne Weldon and he died from natural causes in Leucadia, Encinitas, California, aged 89. His ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean,1927, The Best People 1928, Crime 1928, Many Waters 1928, Mrs. Moonlight 1929, Black St. C. Milton Rosmer 1931, Many Waters dir, milton Rosmer 1933, The Blarney Stone /, The Blarney Kiss dir. Tom Walls 1935, Death Drives Through dir, edward L. Cahn 1937, Our Fighting Navy /, Torpedoed dir. Norman Walker 1937, London Melody /, Look out for Love + Girl in the Street dir, herbert Wilcox 1938, The Challenge dir. Milton Rosmer 1939, Over the Moon dir, thornton Freeland 1939, The Lion Has Wings dir. Michael Powell 1940, The Chinese Bungalow /, Chinese Den dir, george King 1947, The End of the River dir. Twist 1948, The Decision of Christopher Blake dir, peter Godfrey 1948, The Adventures of Don Juan dir. Vincent Sherman 1949, The Fountainhead dir, King Vidor 1949, The Hasty Heart dir. Vincent Sherman 1949, The Lady Takes a Sailor dir, felix Jacoves 1950, Buccaneers Girl dir. Frederick De Cordova 1950, The Flame and the Arrow dir, victor Saville 1950, Spy Hunt /, Panthers Moon dir. George Sherman 1950, Mystery Submarine dir, peter Godfrey 1950, This Side of the Law dir. George Sherman 1951, Thunder on the Hill /, Bonaventure dir, Douglas Sirk 1952, At Swords Point /, Sons of the Musketeers dir

6.
John Harmon (actor)
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John Harmon was an American actor. Harmon was a very prolific bit actor and his career spanned over six decades and almost 300 movie and television roles in a wide variety of genres. Many of his appearances are uncredited. His first major credit was in I Was Framed. His movie career highlights were roles in Gallant Bess, The Monster of Piedras Blancas, Live Fast, Die Young, the movie in which he made his last screen appearance, The Naked Monster, was released 20 years after his death. Harmons most notable TV roles were in Bonanza, Perry Mason, Star Trek, in his later years, Harmon became a used books dealer in Los Angeles. He collected first editions of Mark Twain and he suffered a stroke about a year before he died from heart failure. King of the Underworld as Slats I Was Framed Find the Blackmailer Tangier Incident Malibu High John Harmon at the Internet Movie Database John Harmon at Memory Alpha

7.
Peverell Marley
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John Peverell Marley was an American cinematographer. He is one of only six cinematographers to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Marley is credited under several different names including Pev Marley, Peverell Marley, Peverly Marley, and Peveerell Marley. Born in San Jose, California, Marley began his career soon after graduating high school during the silent film era and his first film was the 1923 Cecil B. DeMille biblical epic The Ten Commandments and he later became DeMilles chief cameraman and would continue to work with DeMille throughout his career. He went on to work on 1929s The Godless Girl, starring his then-fiancee Lina Basquette, the couple divorced after just one year and Marley went on to marry dancer Virginia McAdoo and actress Linda Darnell. In the 1930s, Marley received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography on the 1938 historical drama Suez, in 1948, he was nominated again for his work on the film Life with Father, starring Elizabeth Taylor and William Powell. After his divorce from Darnell in 1952, Marley continued to work on films including 1952s The Greatest Show on Earth for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Cinematography - Color. The following year, he filmed House of Wax, followed by King Richard and the Crusaders in 1954, Serenade in 1956, in the late 1950s, he branched out to television working on the series Telephone Time and Bronco. Marley last worked on a 1961 episode of the series Bus Stop and he died on February 2,1964 in Santa Barbara, and is interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles. His ex-wife Linda Darnell died a little over a year later in a house fire, Peverell Marley at the Internet Movie Database Peverell Marley at Find a Grave

8.
Crime film
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Crime films are a genre of film that focus on crime. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, films dealing with crime and its detection are often based on plays rather than novels. Agatha Christies stage play Witness for the Prosecution was adapted for the big screen by director Billy Wilder in 1957, the film starred Marlene Dietrich and Charles Laughton and is a classic example of a courtroom drama. In a courtroom drama, a charge is brought against one of the main characters, another major part is played by the lawyer representing the defendant in court and battling with the public prosecutor. He or she may enlist the services of an investigator to find out what really happened. However, in most cases it is not clear at all whether the accused is guilty of the crime or not—this is how suspense is created. Often, the private investigator storms into the courtroom at the very last minute in order to bring a new and this type of literature lends itself to the literary genre of drama focused more on dialogue and little or no necessity for a shift in scenery. The auditorium of the theatre becomes an extension of the courtroom, in Witness for the Prosecution, Leonard Vole, a young American living in England, is accused of murdering a middle-aged lady he met in the street while shopping. His wife hires the best lawyer available because she is convinced, or rather she knows, another classic courtroom drama is U. S. playwright Reginald Roses Twelve Angry Men, which is set in the jury deliberation room of a New York Court of Law. Eleven members of the jury, aiming at a verdict of guilty. The popularity of TV brought about the emergence of TV series featuring detectives, investigators, special agents, lawyers, in Britain, The Avengers about the adventures of gentleman agent John Steed and his partner, Emma Peel, achieved cult status. In Germany, Derrick became a household word, breaking Bad character Walter White is a methamphetamine drug manufacturer, this offered a different approach whereby the protagonist is the criminal instead of being the detective. Crime films may fall under several different subgenres and these include, Crime comedy - A hybrid of crime and comedy films. Mafia comedy looks at organized crime from a comical standpoint, humor comes from the incompetence of the criminals and/or black comedy. Examples include Analyze This, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, In Bruges, tower Heist and Pain & Gain. Crime drama - A combination of crime and dramatic films, examples include such films as Straight Time and Badlands. Crime thriller - A thriller in which the characters are involved in crime, either in its investigation, as the perpetrator or, less commonly. While some action films could be labelled as such for merely having criminality and thrills, the emphasis in this genre is the drama, examples include Untraceable, Silence of the Lambs, Heat, Seven, Witness, Memories of Murder, The Call, and Running Scared

9.
James Flavin
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James William Flavin Jr. was an American character actor whose career lasted for nearly half a century. Flavin was the son of a waiter of Canadian-English extraction. Thus, Flavin, well known in Hollywood as an Irish type and he was born and reared in Portland, Maine, a fact that may have enriched his later working relationship with director John Ford, also a Portland native. He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point but, contrary to some sources, instead he dropped out and returned to Portland and drove a taxi. Then as now, summer stock companies flocked to Maine each year and he did well with the part and the company manager offered him $150 per week to accompany the troupe back to New York. Flavin accepted and by the spring of 1930 was living in a house at 108 W. 87th Street in Manhattan. Flavin worked his way across the country in stock productions and tours and he quickly made the transition to movies, landing the lead role in his very first film, a Universal serial, The Airmail Mystery. He also landed his leading lady, marrying the serials female star Lucile Browne that same year, however, the serial marked virtually the last time that Flavin would play the lead in a film. Thereafter, he was restricted almost exclusively to supporting characters, many of them without so much as a name and he specialized in uniformed cops and hard-bitten detectives, but played chauffeurs, cabbies, and even a 16th-century palace guard with aplomb. Flavin appeared in four hundred films between 1932 and 1971. S. Flavin portrayed Sam Cooper in the 1958 episode, The Ed Church Case, of the CBS crime drama series, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, starring David Janssen. In 1959, he guest starred as Big Dan Girod in the episode, Invitation to a Murder, on the ABC/WB detective series, Bourbon Street Beat, in 1960, Flavin appeared in The Twilight Zone episode A Passage for Trumpet. From 1960 to 1962, Flavin appeared three times on the CBS sitcom, Pete and Gladys, with Harry Morgan and Cara Williams. Flavin portrayed Fire Chief Hawkins in the 1964 episode, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, on the NBC education drama series, Mr. Novak, Flavin died of a heart ailment at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California on April 23,1976. His widow Lucile died seventeen days later and they were survived by their son, William James Flavin, subsequently a professor at the United States Army War College. James and Lucile Browne Flavin are interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, James Flavin at the Internet Movie Database James Flavin at the Internet Broadway Database James Flavin at Find a Grave